Thousands of Migrants Are Crossing the Balkans on Foot

On October 17, Hungary closed its border with Croatia, blocking thousands of refugees still traveling from Mediterranean landing points to central and northern European countries, forcing thousands to shift their routes. An estimated 58,000 migrants and refugees heading to Germany and Austria have arrived in Slovenia over the last week alone. The smaller Balkan countries are still straining to cope with the influx of refugees, as they have most of this year. Colder weather has started making the journey even more difficult, as men, women, and children from war-torn and impoverished regions of the Middle East and Africa continue their journey north.

Migrants are escorted by police as they walk from the village of Rigonce, Slovenia to a refugee camp in Brežice on October 23, 2015. Thousands of migrants marched across the border between Croatia into Slovenia as authorities intensified their efforts to attempt to cope with Europe's largest migration of people since World War II.#

Migrants move through fields after crossing into Rigonce from Croatia, on October 25, 2015. Thousands of people are trying to reach central and northern Europe via the Balkans, but often have to wait for days in mud and rain at the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian borders.#

Migrants walk through a field in Ključ Brdovečki, Croatia, on the Slovenian border, on October 23, 2015. On Friday, Croatian police escorted another group of some 1,500 refugees and migrants close to an unmanned section of the country's border with Slovenia before letting them cross the frontier on foot. #

Migrants look through a fence as they wait to cross the Slovenia-Austrian border in Spielfeld, Austria, on October 22, 2015. Thousands of people wait to cross the border at Spielfeld to continue further to Austria and Germany.#

A migrant on a wheelchair protects himself from the rain near the Serbian-Croatian border crossing, near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 19, 2015. Thousands of migrants clamored to enter European Union member Croatia from Serbia on Monday after a night spent in the cold and mud of no-man's land, their passage west slowed by a Slovenian effort to impose limits on the flow to western Europe.#